Muslim, Christian parents say school indoctrinating children

WASHINGTON — Wael Elkoshairi, a Muslim parent who unenrolled his daughter from a Montgomery County, Maryland, public school last year, believes his local school district is “watering down” parental rights and trying to indoctrinate children.

He was among several parents of varying religious backgrounds who spoke outside the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to advocate for the right to opt their children out of lessons featuring books that celebrate gender transitioning and same-sex relationships, which they say contradict their religious convictions.

Speaking before oral arguments in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, they say that the Montgomery County Board of Education violated their rights by refusing to provide an opt-out for their children, although the county provides opt-outs for other reasons. 

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“We teach our children that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Elkoshairi told The Christian Post about the values he desires to impart to his children. “This is Islamic jurisprudence.”

“You know, this is a pluralistic society where we all live together,” he continued. “This is not a theocracy, and we’re under no illusion. So, when it is a pluralistic society, we need to make accommodations for each other when possible so that we can get along.”

The father told CP that he does not hate the LGBT community, asserting that schools should have accommodations when certain curricula or classroom materials conflict with parents’ religious beliefs. 

In 2022, the Montgomery County Board of Education introduced a series of “inclusive” LGBT-themed books for pre-K through fifth-grade students. The books included titles such as Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope and Pride Puppy, a picture book about a pride parade that encourages children to search for images of underwear, leather and drag queens.

The school board initially allowed parents to exempt their children from reading these materials but later revoked this option.

Elkoshairi asserts that the case didn’t even have to go all the way to the Supreme Court because the board and Montgomery County Public Schools could have come to an agreement with the parents. Instead, he said they decided to “force [LGBT books and themes] down our throats.”

The Muslim father says his argument works both ways and that he would support LGBT students if schools decided to teach Islam and they wanted to opt out of those lessons.
 
“If it was genuinely against their moral convictions to listen to Islamic text or jurisprudence, then I would say, by all means, you have the right to [opt out], and I will support you,” the father said. 

“But this whole issue has more to do with a larger slippery slope that’s happening where they are making it easier to access the puberty blockers,” Elkoshairi added. “They are watering down parental rights.” 

“We can’t just look at it as the opt-out,” he continued. “We’re looking at a whole movement that is basically dead set on indoctrinating our children into a certain lifestyle that might contradict some people’s religious beliefs.”

Next to the rally for parental rights, a crowd of LGBT activists demonstrated against what they described as “book bans.”

Many of the protesters wore rainbow-themed attire, while others held up signs that read, “Every Family Deserves to Be Seen” and “Our Love Is Louder.”

LGBT activists present at the rally, whom CP approached, declined to comment for this article.

Billy Moges, the director of the nonprofit KidsFirst and one of the parents who sued Maryland’s largest school district over the opt-out policy, believes that it’s wrong for schools to teach children about gender identity and sexual orientation, topics that they may be too young to understand.
 
As a Christian parent, Moges has taught her children to know that God created man in His image, and she does not want them to think that a person can change their gender identity based on how they feel. 

Contrary to some of the arguments from the activists present during oral arguments, Moges said that she is not teaching her children to hate anyone who identifies as LGBT. 

“We cannot hate because we’re commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. We don’t hate them,” the Christian mother told CP. “We want every child to feel comfortable, but not at the cost of our children.” 

During oral arguments, the liberal justices on the court appeared to sympathize with the school board, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor asserting that exposing children to LGBT content is not “coercion.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, another liberal justice, suggested that if parents object to the subject matter taught at certain schools, then they don’t have to send their children there. 

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan wondered if a ruling in favor of the parents could have broader implications, inquiring about where to draw the line in terms of allowing students to opt out of certain curricula. 

“It’ll be like opt-outs for everyone,” Kagan said.

Several of the conservative justices on the court, including Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, questioned why the school board doesn’t believe it’s feasible to allow parents to opt their children out of instruction featuring LGBT materials. 

Fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett also argued that the materials that have raised parental objections do more than teach children that LGBT-identifying people exist.

“It’s saying this is the right view of the world. This is how we think about things. This is how you should think about things. This is like two plus two is four.”